Lost in Storybrooke
by Full Deck
Summary: A mother and son vacation turns into a search for a lost little girl and discovery of a small town that shouldn't be there.


**I have a Word file on my computer with several Once Upon A Time fic ideas, mostly AU's and two of them mated to become this story. Longer A/N after.**

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><p>The road was endless, just miles of asphalt, woods and clear, black sky.<p>

Emma Swan had never wished for rain so badly in her life. At least if it was raining she could explain how she had gotten them so completely lost in the back roads of Maine. This was supposed to be a nice relaxing week in Nova Scotia, but now, at the rate they were going, they would be spending Saturday in their little yellow beetle. The car gave a little jerk and she hoped they spent Saturday in the little yellow beetle not on the side of the road somewhere.

She risked a glance back to the medium size bundle curled up in the back seat. Noah had arranged himself so the only part of himself sticking out from under the blankets and navy blue hoodie was a bit of his brown mop. The only indication that her kid was still alive was the steady rise and fall of his blanket. Emma settled back into the driver's seat, a peace warming her and calming her back down.

Yes, they were lost, in Maine of all places. No, they probably wouldn't make it to the Canadian border by sunup, but they still had each other. As sappy as that seemed, it had seemed like a much more daunting possibility ten years ago when he had been born. She had almost given up, given him up. She was in prison, her mother was "not well" again, and she didn't have anything to offer to herself, let alone to a _baby, _but every instinct in her wanted to try. Those first years together were…harrowing, even with her mother around, sometimes especially with her mother around. In the end they had all made it. He was healthy and stable and seemed happy, she had a job where she was her own boss and got to punch people on occasion and her mother hadn't been threatened with "observation" in few years now. Everything was calm and stable for the first time that she could remember.

A rustling from the back seat drew her attention. Noah flung the blanket off and climbed, all elbows and knees, into the front passenger seat. Emma wished that he was legal to drive because he was probably going to be up all night now.

"I guess we're not there yet," his said, his big, I-told-you-so grin splitting his round freckled face in half.

"Yeah, yeah, I know."

Noah pulled her cell phone from the ashtray and frowned when it refused to turn on. "Happy birthday, by the way."

Emma checked her watch, she had been twenty-eight for nine minutes now. As usual, she didn't feel any different. "Thanks. Phone's dead."

"I noticed." Noah started rifling through every pocket and crevice in the small car, his tennis shoes twitching with pent up energy. She never knew where the kid got it from. She always needed about three cups of coffee before she even considered herself conscious. "Where's the adapter?" She hummed to herself, ignoring the question, but he could always read her like a book. "You didn't forget it?" he begged. For all the love she had for the kid, he could have the most irritating voice sometimes.

"No," she drew out the word. "I did not _forget_ it."

There was clear doubt in his eyes while he stared at her for a few seconds. "Then where is…" His eyes narrowed, doubt was gone replaced with disappointment. "It's in the trunk, isn't it."

"But it's not in Boston!" she said with some pride.

Noah rolled his eyes, but Emma spotted a small smile on his face. "Mom, just pull over."

She shook her head. "Not this far from civilization at this hour. With our luck the car won't start again."

"We're lost, you have no idea how far we are from civilization." _Smart ass._

She looked out into the still cloudless night. The road kept stretching forward further than she could see. "This road goes somewhere. When we find it, we'll stop and get our bearings, okay?"

Noah put his feet up on the dashboard, hoodie back up, covering his head. "I just hope this road doesn't go straight into the Atlantic."

"Well, we'll know where we are then, won't we?" She didn't need to see it to know he'd just rolled his eyes at her.

It wasn't five minutes later when the beetle's headlights illuminated a road sign.

"Ah, 'Storybrooke'," Emma poked Noah's side. "See. We'll stop there and figure things out."

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><p>Storybrooke was as quaint and cheesy as its name. An old seaside town, the kind normally turned into tourist traps, but this one looked like it hadn't seen a party in decades. Emma didn't expect there to be a place open at this hour in this one traffic light town, but a diner called "Granny's" had lights on and patrons inside. The little beetle slipped easily into a spot just in front. A sign on the door said the restaurant was open until 2 am every night so they had about an hour and a half.<p>

Noah hopped out and stretched. "Think they have French fries?"

Emma hadn't realized just how stiff she had gotten until each and every joint cracked and popped as she got out. "I'm just hoping for some coffee, kid," she replied, opening the trunk. She pulled out her phone charger, debating on whether or not to go ahead and hook it up while they ate. Noah grabbed his bag and bounded to the door, almost getting out of her sight before she could even slam the hood shut. Bells on the door rang as he slipped through, nearly slamming the door on her wrist as she tried to grab her son.

"Noah, slow down." There was no point though, he had stopped short once inside. All the locals were staring, Emma's stomach twisted from the attention. The "there's strangers in town" routine. "Uh, hi, just passing through," she assured them, gripping her son by the shoulder and steered him towards and empty booth.

The waitress popped up, bright red streaks in her black hair and a cheerful grin, Emma's first reaction was to cover Noah's eyes. The woman's apron covered more of her than her midriff shirt and Daisy Dukes. "What can I get for you?"

Emma ordered a burger and fries for them both, soda for him, coffee for herself. Good health be damned, they had a long road ahead. After the waitress left, Noah began digging into his backpack.

"It's your birthday and we're lost, so I guess now is the perfect time for this." He presented her with a medium sized package wrapped in the pearl white paper her mother always used. A large, but squashed, red bow top and a card taped to the side that read: "To: Emma From: Noah and Mom" as if she ever had any question who would give her a present. She opened the card first, it was a simple white card with an embossed snowflake on the front. Inside her mother had written in her perfect script "_So you can always find your way back to those who love you, Happy Birthday_." Emma was torn between laughing and crying. It was sweet and touching, and they weren't making it hard for her to guess what her present was. The paper came off the Garmin GPS box pretty quickly. She ended up laughing so hard tears came anyway.

Noah's smile widened. "I told Grandma we should have given it to you before we left. But she said not to." His grin wavered and Emma stopped laughing as he hesitated. "She was acting a little weird."

Tension wound its way up her spine. She reminded herself to relax, it might not be that bad. "How weird?"

'Weird' in their family wasn't like in others, but others didn't have mothers who insisted they were Snow White. The Snow White, from the fairy tale. Other mothers hadn't raised their daughters on the "true" fairy tales, hadn't trained their kids to track and fight because one day they had to save their whole world from a curse that only the pregnant Snow has escaped from. According to her mother, Emma's father was trapped in some horrible land of misery her whole life and not some deadbeat loser who abandoned them on the side of a freeway.

Noah was picking at a napkin from the table dispenser, tearing it apart and twisting the remains. "Not very…not like before. When I told her we should give you the GPS, she just seemed far away and said 'if you don't get lost how will you find your way?' She only talks like that when… you know." Yeah, Emma knew.

Both jumped as their drinks were put on the table. The waitress looked apologetic for the loud noise. "Oh, who's birthday?"

Emma forced herself to breathe normally. "Uh, oh, mine."

"Do you like chocolate cake?" she asked.

Feeling a little slow, wondering where she was going with this. "Yeah, sure."

"I'll get you a slice on the house. Oh, I'm Ruby, by the way. Forgot earlier, cause-"

"Everyone who comes in already knows?" Emma smiled and Ruby nodded emphatically. "I'm Emma, this is Noah, we got a little lost on the way to Canada."

"Oh, do you live there?" Ruby's eyes brightened with a light Emma knew well as teenage wanderlust.

"No, we live in Boston," Noah chimed in. "Mom and I are going to spend the week in Halifax."

Ruby leaned over practically drooling for a interesting story. "What's in Halifax?"

"No idea, we're gonna spend the week finding out," Emma grinned. "We had a deal, he threw a dart at a map of North American and that's where it landed."

Ruby's eyes dropped a little, then she sighed. "I would love to be able to do that. Just throw a dart and go."

"Why don't you?" Noah asked and was answered immediately by someone shouting from the back.

"Ruby!" an old rough and tumble looking woman called. "The table's order is up." Emma was amazed at how much could be said just from her tone. Mostly it was 'shut the hell up' but also a lot of 'get back to work'.

"Just a second, Granny," Ruby replied with plenty of 'shut the hell up' in her own voice. She turned back to Noah. "That's why. I'll get you some cake, too."

When she turned back to Noah, he was stirring his soda with the straw, the ice rattling against the glass. For someone who was so cheerful a second ago, the despondent look on his face now worried her. "Hey, kid, what is it?"

He stopped stirring. "Do you think they will take Grandma away again?"

Every year or so, especially when Emma was younger, Snow would say something suspicious and it would start a chain reaction that ended up in her being kept for observation for a few days. Her mother had always tried to hide her delusion because they had no family and few friends and often when Snow was away Emma ended up in foster care. Her mother had hated that as much as Emma did. Mostly, Snow was out by the time school started on Monday, but twice, once when Emma was seventeen and then when Noah was five, they had found a way to hold on to her for months. In the end though, they had no real cause to keep her.

Emma shook her head. "I think they might be at the point of giving up. She's not hurting anyone, I think it's okay to let her keep her delusion."

Ruby returned with their burgers and two slices of chocolate cake. The one she placed in front of Emma had a little blue candle burning away cheerfully. "I won't make you sing, but I thought you might like to make a wish."

Emma looked at her in shock. She hadn't had many friends in life, being the daughter of a crazy lady tended to drive people away, no matter how kind Snow was to her classmates. The few she did have tended to be tough bounty hunter guys, not the kind to bring someone a slice of birthday cake and a lit candle, especially for someone they had just met. "Thank you." Ruby waited while Emma closed her eyes, thought of a wish and blew out the tiny yellow flame.

"Happy birthday," the waitress said and headed off to help a new customer.

Emma thanked her again and she and Noah settled in to eat. Several customers had come and gone by the time Emma made it to the chocolate cake, the bells on the door ringing every time. She was a little surprised when a couple sat at the bar and had a shot of whiskey. Apparently, it was also that kind of place. Emma approved and thought, if they ever made it to Halifax, they would definitely stop back at Granny's on the way home.

The bells on the door rang again, but Emma ignored it, until she realized that Noah was staring straight ahead. From the curl of his mouth and eyes, she could tell he was curious, but wary. She turned to see what had grabbed his attention. A tall curly haired man, not much older than herself was heading straight for them. She didn't need to see the gun and sheriff's badge on his hip to know he was the local law. He stopped at their table.

"Good evening, Sheriff," Emma said, shoving a bit of cake into her mouth. Moist, sweet and not a bit stale, Emma didn't have high standards for cake, but this one was really good.

"Good evening." She noticed an accent. How did an Irishman become a small town Maine sheriff?

Ruby noticed from the bar. "Oh, leave them alone, Graham. It's her birthday."

"Happy birthday," he said. "Is that your yellow car out front?" Emma saw Ruby roll her eyes behind him.

"Yes, is there something wrong?" She spun around to check on it, imagining that someone had tried to break in. It looked perfectly serene outside.

"Not technically," he said very, very carefully and Emma began to understand what was actually going on. "We just prefer no one park right in front of the diner. It blocks pedestrians."

Emma snorted. "Really? I've heard all kinds of excuses used by small town cops to check out the strangers in town, but that - I think that may be a new one."

Graham crossed his arms but didn't look particularly upset. "Okay, who are you and what are you doing in Storybrooke?"

Emma recited word for word what she had told Ruby earlier, then, "My son and I will be out of here in an hour. Think the car can stay where it is until then?"

For a few moments, he looked like he was actually debating on it. They both knew there really wasn't anything he could do. In the end, he nodded, wished them a good trip and headed for the bar. Ruby gave him a sour look.

"What was that about?" Noah asked, a bit of chocolate on his cheek.

Emma threw a napkin at him and pointed it out. "He's just making sure we won't be any trouble."

Noah grinned, the chocolate gone. "Grandma says you're always trouble."

"Must be where you get it from, kid."

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><p>Emma was as good as her word, she and Noah were on back on the road in an hour, after a large tip for Ruby and a ten minute call to her mother in Boston. Snow insisted she was fine and that she would stay fine, at least until they got back from Canada.<p>

Assuming they got there in the first place.

Noah was playing with her new toy, programming it to take them to Halifax in Japanese. She was feeling the caffeine shaking her system. The jittering wasn't making her feel better though. The further they got from the diner, the more it felt like leaving was a bad idea. It was past one am, the GPS had said it was at least seven hours to their destination. They should probably turn back and find a place to sleep. Part of her wanted to keep going at least until the next town over. She had told the Sheriff that they would be gone in an hour, and she probably did have at least a couple more hours in her before she really needed to sleep.

But Noah was in the car. Before she could come to a decision the car chose for her. It gave a nasty rattle and went dark.

"No, no, no, no," became her mantra as they slowly rolled to a stop. Putting the car in park and turning the key over and over did not bring it back to life. "Dammit!" Slamming her palm against the steering wheel didn't help either. Noah sighed and put the GPS down.

"Well," Emma pulled out her phone. It had stopped charging after the car died, but there should be enough battery life for one call. "I guess it's a good thing I got that diner's phone number." After a few seconds a familiar voice greeted her on the other end. "Hey, Ruby. It's Emma. The car broke down, you got the number of a tow truck and mechanic?"

"Yeah, sure. I'll call 'em for you. Where'd you end up?"

Emma looked out into the black night. "Oh, about five feet from the Welcome to Storybrooke sign. It looks like we're staying the night."

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><p><strong>I'm not entirely happy with the ending of this chapter, but the others (all 3 of them) would result in something happening far too soon in the story.<strong>

**So, obviously the AU ideas that mated were "what if Emma kept Henry?" and "what if Snow had made it through the wardrobe before giving birth?"**

**And for the few who would like clarification: yes, Noah=Henry. Regina had named him after her father and while Emma could ****have also named him Henry, I thought it would be unlikely (though in the first draft he was "James" until I realized Emma is not a fan of her own father). **

**There is a reason Emma is still Emma _Swan_, I just don't know if it will come up anytime soon.**

**I promise, the plot will arrive next chapter. **

**I have a convention to go to this weekend and promised a friend we'd go to dinner and see Hunger Games after, so no writing for me. Won't even get to see Once Upon A Time Sunday (thank all that is great and terrible for DVRs and the Internets), but I hope to have the next chapter of this (and Storm Warning, also) up before April 1st and Script Frenzy takes off.**


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